List of Illustrations

1 John Ware’s “Four Nines” or “Four Walking Sticks” brand (Henderson’s Ranchers’ Directory and Brand Book, 1888).

2 Various forms of “9” and “Walking Sticks” and iterations in between (North West Brand Book, 1900).

3 “Double Yoke” (Henderson’s NorthWest Brand Book, 1889).

4 Discovering Thomas Rife. “Four Prisoners.” Daily Edmonton Bulletin. August 3, 1904. https://archive.org/details/EDE_1904080301/page/n3/mode/2up

5 “Mark for Negroes”: South Sea Company Brand. British Library, London. South Sea Company Archives. Additional Manuscripts. MS 2557, f018r.

6 “Some Say…” by Bertrand Bickersteth.

7 “A Black Hand Revisits” by Bertrand Bickersteth.

8 Benjamin Washington Cattle Brand (Supplement to Alberta Horse and Cattle Brands, 1914, 1915).

9 Benjamin Washington’s Palimpsestic Blackness. Statistics Canada fonds, RG31, 1921 Census of Canada, Alberta, District number 1, sub-district number 53, page 11, Library and Archives Canada. Image number e002859629, Library and Archives Canada, https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=census&id=62708242&lang=eng&

10 Close-up of Benjamin Washington’s Mark (1915).

11 Benjamin Washington/Bertrand Bickersteth Historic Collaboration.

12 “B” & “W”: Black Cowboy Font (2025).

13 Fred Hall Brands, from top to bottom: “Quarter Circle Lazy FH” (1915 cattle); “FD Bar” (1916–18 horse); “Quarter Circle Lazy FH” (1919 cattle) (Alberta Horse and Cattle Brands, 1915; Alberta Horse and Cattle Brands, 1916, 1917, 1918; Alberta Horse and Cattle Brands, 1919–20).

14 The Freeman Family. Statistics Canada fonds, R233-47-9-E, Census of the Prairie Provinces, 1916, District number 37, sub-district number 30, page 37, Library and Archives Canada. Image number 31228_4363980-00663, Library and Archives Canada, https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=census&id=42557885&lang=eng&ecopy=31228_4363980-00663

15 Freeman Family’s Palimpsestic Blackness.

16 Family Brands, from left to right: Robert (V0T), Nettie (DC), William (Crazy 3 D), and John Ware (I9) (North West Brand Book 1900).

17 Walter Freeman’s “Quarter Circle Reverse F Four” Brand (Alberta Horse and Cattle Brands, 1916–18).

18 Coat of Arms (52.125) granted to Robert Bickersteth in 1856.

19 Abiola Traces His Past. Katrina H. B. Keefer/Author.

20 Charles Dyson, “Bar One-Two” (North West Brand Book, 1900). Note, beneath is a brand owned by Pat Burns, one of the Calgary Stampede’s Big Four founders.

21 My Path Through “Bar 1–2.”

22 A Trace of Dyson’s Bars.

23 The Running Iron’s Way with Words.

24 The Jumping-Off Point of Brand Poetics.

25 “Mne”

26 “I Lies Down.”

27 “A Trace of the Truth.”

28 The Poetics of Black Cattle Brands.

29 Two versions of “S Bar S” (Alberta and Saskatchewan Brand Book, 1907).

30 “Crazy P 7 Inverted Rafter,” Eliza Dyson’s brand (Supplement to Alberta Horse and Cattle Brands, 1914).

31 Black Venus (1957) by Margaret Burroughs (courtesy National Gallery of Art).

32 This Hamar youth treads an Afrofuturistic trail for John Ware and me to follow. Photo by Bharat Patel.